India-US ink MoU to boost energy security, clean energy cooperation

India and the United States on Thursday signed an MoU here to enhance cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Washington visit.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by India's Power Secretary P.K. Pujari and US Ambassador Richard Verma, a statement here said.

The priority initiatives under the MoU would be, among others, "US-India Energy smart Cities Partnership; Greening the Grid; Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) expansion; energy efficiency including space cooling; renewable energy, energy security, and accelerating innovation on clean energy", the statement added.

At the India-US Ministerial Energy Dialogue held in Washington last September, co-chaired by India's Power Minister Piyush Goyal and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, the ministers reviewed the progress made by the six working groups of the energy dialogue and identified new areas for cooperation.

The six working groups include groups on coal, new technology and renewable energy, petroleum and natural gas, power and energy efficiency, sustainable development and the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R).

During the Dialogue, it was also agreed to explore addition of smart grids and energy storage for grid application as the fourth stream under PACE-R.

Discussions were also held in the working groups on financing of clean energy technology as well as on innovative financing for renewable energy microfinance and micro enterprises.

Modi will be in Washington on a bilateral visit on June 7-8.

--IANS

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